Airport
Messinia will take your breath away. This land filled with contrasts and welcoming inhabitants is only two hours drive away from Athens. See its vast olive groves, green valleys, mountains, gorges and coves. Numerous small or long sandy beaches, with calm waters or huge waves that will satisfy families or aspiring surfers. Small mountainous cliff-hanging villages with breathtaking views will blow your mind away...
These have been the 5 most popular museums over the last 10 years. Their collections include priceless finds, statues cast in bronze or fashioned from marble that broke the conventions of the Archaic period, such as the Charioteer of Delphi, treasures from royal tombs, Linear B tablets, enigmatic Cycladic marble figurines, the snake Goddess, the original Caryatids, the Antikythera Mechanism, a mechanical miniature of the Ancient Universe…
According to the legend, the first temple of Apollo at Delphi was made of laurel branches, the second of beeswax and feathers, and the third of bronze, while the fourth. | © Greg Papadopoulos
WHY:
Let yourself be tempted to enter the glorious world of ancient Athens and admire every priceless artefact that has been found on the sacred rock of Acropolis- the landmark of ancient Greece – spanning a period from the Mycenaean times up to the Roman and Early Christian Athens. The finds are exhibited in an amazing state-of-the-art building – worth visiting in itself– whose design has actually been dictated by the site itself. It is rather impressive that the Museum, situated almost opposite Acropolis, is a multi level structure around a concrete core that has the same dimensions as the perimeter of Parthenon, whereas the tour inside the museum in a way resembles the ascension to the Acropolis rock.
The Museum also boasts an innovative interior design: a glass floor on the ground level encourages visitors to view the excavations below; they are also able to see Parthenon from the glass gallery; solid glass walls allow the exhibits to bathe in natural light whereas the building has been structured so as to incorporate a number of on-site excavations. The museum has been voted as “the best museum in the world” by the British Guild of Travel Writers
WHAT YOU WILL SEE:
A wide glass-floored gallery houses finds from the slopes of the Acropolis rock. The occasionally transparent floor provides a view of the archaeological excavation. In the Archaic Gallery, for the first time, visitors have the opportunity to view exhibits in a three-dimensional form. On the south side of the Gallery, statues of young ladies (Korai), the horse riders (Hippeis) and many others provide a striking picture of the Acropolis in the Archaic Period. In the impressive Parthenon Gallery you can observe the metópes, depicting themes from legendary battles, symbolising the victories of the Athenians against the Persians; the pediments, the triangular spaces formed by the horizontal and raking cornices of the roof at each end of the temple, comprised colossal statues sculpted in the round, their themes drawn from Attic mythology.
On the Parthenon frieze, which consisted of 115 blocks, Pheidias chose to depict the Great Panathenaia, the greatest festival of the city in honour of the goddess Athena. For the first time ever, it is possible to view the coffered ceiling of Propylaia and the sculptures from the parapet of the temple of Athena Nike, and finally, Caryatids –or Korai of Erechtheion– overlooking the Gallery of the Acropolis slopes. The main monuments that constitute the Classical Acropolis are Propylaia, the temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion.
HIGHLIGHT:
Highlight: the original Caryatids from Erechtheion and all the exhibits in the Parthenon Gallery, including the original sculptures from the Parthenon frieze shown alongside plaster casts of the pieces removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century. From this gallery visitors take in unob¬structed 360-degree views of the ancient temple and the surrounding city.
EXTRA TIP:
The program “A day at the Acropolis Museum” invites visitors to spend a day at the Museum enjoying a wide range of activities:
According to the legend, the first temple of Apollo at Delphi was made of laurel branches, the second of beeswax and feathers, and the third of bronze, while the fourth. | © Greg Papadopoulos
WHY:
Let yourself be tempted to enter the glorious world of ancient Athens and admire every priceless artefact that has been found on the sacred rock of Acropolis- the landmark of ancient Greece – spanning a period from the Mycenaean times up to the Roman and Early Christian Athens. The finds are exhibited in an amazing state-of-the-art building – worth visiting in itself– whose design has actually been dictated by the site itself. It is rather impressive that the Museum, situated almost opposite Acropolis, is a multi level structure around a concrete core that has the same dimensions as the perimeter of Parthenon, whereas the tour inside the museum in a way resembles the ascension to the Acropolis rock.
The Museum also boasts an innovative interior design: a glass floor on the ground level encourages visitors to view the excavations below; they are also able to see Parthenon from the glass gallery; solid glass walls allow the exhibits to bathe in natural light whereas the building has been structured so as to incorporate a number of on-site excavations. The museum has been voted as “the best museum in the world” by the British Guild of Travel Writers
WHAT YOU WILL SEE:
A wide glass-floored gallery houses finds from the slopes of the Acropolis rock. The occasionally transparent floor provides a view of the archaeological excavation. In the Archaic Gallery, for the first time, visitors have the opportunity to view exhibits in a three-dimensional form. On the south side of the Gallery, statues of young ladies (Korai), the horse riders (Hippeis) and many others provide a striking picture of the Acropolis in the Archaic Period. In the impressive Parthenon Gallery you can observe the metópes, depicting themes from legendary battles, symbolising the victories of the Athenians against the Persians; the pediments, the triangular spaces formed by the horizontal and raking cornices of the roof at each end of the temple, comprised colossal statues sculpted in the round, their themes drawn from Attic mythology.
On the Parthenon frieze, which consisted of 115 blocks, Pheidias chose to depict the Great Panathenaia, the greatest festival of the city in honour of the goddess Athena. For the first time ever, it is possible to view the coffered ceiling of Propylaia and the sculptures from the parapet of the temple of Athena Nike, and finally, Caryatids –or Korai of Erechtheion– overlooking the Gallery of the Acropolis slopes. The main monuments that constitute the Classical Acropolis are Propylaia, the temple of Athena Nike and Erechtheion.
HIGHLIGHT:
Highlight: the original Caryatids from Erechtheion and all the exhibits in the Parthenon Gallery, including the original sculptures from the Parthenon frieze shown alongside plaster casts of the pieces removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early nineteenth century. From this gallery visitors take in unob¬structed 360-degree views of the ancient temple and the surrounding city.
EXTRA TIP:
The Museum is situated on the wider archaeological site of the Delphi Pan-Hellenic sanctuary, which used to be for many centuries the cultural and religious centre and a symbol of unity for the Hellenic world. Set within a most spectacular landscape at the foot of Mount Parnassos, within the angle formed by the twin rocks of the Phaedriades, Delphi was regarded as the centre of the world. The archaeological site of Delphi includes two sanctuaries, dedicated to Apollo and Athena. Admire also the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, the famous Tholos –the symbol of Delphi today–, the gymnasium, a place for exercise and learning, the palaestra, the baths and votive monuments dedicated by Greek cities or wealthy individuals. The central, most important part of the site was the sanctuary of Apollo. From here visitors entered the Sacred Way, the street that led to the temple of Apollo and to its famous adyton, where Pythia delivered her oracles.
